About Us – Acip Kenya

History of ACIP

History of the African Christian Initiation Program

The African Christian Initiation Programme (ACIP), is a community participatory programme of the Eldoret-based Gender and Development Network (Eldo-GADNet). Eldo-GADNet is an inter-denominational, inter-disciplinary and inter-ethnic initiative.

Mission

To mentor adolescents of all races, sex, social class, religion, ability, political and ethnic backgrounds with confidence and self-esteem and empower them with values and life skills for holistic health and responsible leadership in society. We equip adolescents and their parents to handle emerging challenges by providing relevant content innovatively for physical, mental, social and spiritual health

Vision

To be a global leader in mentoring adolescents with values and skills for holistic health and life.

Core Values

Love of God which shows itself as love, care, and respect for us and for our fellow human beings, honesty, confidence, self-esteem, hard work respect and care for the environment.

1990s

Here is where it all started

Ladies to Ladies talk to address rampant unwanted pregnancies, abortion, STIs/HIV & stress among students at Moi University; Something needed to be done.
2003

PhD Dissertation

PhD Dissertation on Gender, Youth Sexuality, HIV/AIDS & the Church in Kenya Published. We noted there was need for intervention in this area.
2004

ACIP Founded

Mission: To be a global leader in mentoring adolescents with values and skills for life
Motto: Choose Life (Deut: 30:15). We also did our first ACIP event which was very successful.
2006-2016

Engagement

Multiple Acip activities across the country.
2016-2018

ACIP Assessment

We evaluated the performance of ACIP and noticed that:
ACIP has an impact on character amidst national moral crisis.
ACIP Alumni value honesty and respect.
Kenyans strongly desire national values system.
2019- 2022

Currently

We conducted more character Initiation programs and we continue receiving overwhelming feedback from our graduates.
Founder Members
The following are the founder members of ACIP, all of whom initially worked in the then School of Social, Cultural and Development Studies at Moi University:

Eunice Kamaara

ekamaara@gmail.com
Prof Eunice Kamaara has been Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Moi University for the last five years. She also serves as International Affiliate Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Indiana, USA, as a member of the Médecins Sans Frontières Ethical Review Board (MSF ERB), and, is DAAD trainer on Higher Education Planning and Management. Professor Kamaara has served the boards of several international journals, including AMECEA Gaba Publications and Journal of Peace, Gender and Development Studies and she has led several research programmes. Her most collaborative publication to date is Wanjiku: A Kenyan Socio-Political Discourse.
Professor Kamaara’s contributions in the community range from HIV/AIDS awareness initiatives to Holistic Health, Higher Education Planning and Management and Youth and Gender Reproductive/Sexual Health. The advisory services that she continues to provide for a variety of international and regional programmes including AIESEC, Church World Service, I Choose Life and Tumaini Childrens Drop-in Centre demonstrates her commitment to strengthening youth empowerment initiatives.

Mary Wahome

maryngare@yahoo.com
Dr. Wahome is currently the Associate Dean at the School of Arts and Social Sciences, Moi University. A Philosopher with over 20 years teaching experience, Dr. Wahome is an expert in professional tracer studies, having been trained by the German Academic Service Exchange (DAAD) in collaboration with INCHER-Kassel Germany. Her collaborative work in this area has drawn the connections between graduate study and job experience and it constitutes a core part of the International Network of Graduate surveys (INGRADNET). Dr. Wahome’s other research interests center on ethical perspectives in spousal violence, an area that she tries to intervene in through programs that shape gender attitudes and youth values.

Pamela Abuya

pamabuya@yahoo.co.uk
Ms. Abuya is a regionally recognized motivational speaker. From her niche in Philosophy, Ms. Abuya has spent nearly two decades working with adolescents and examining the conditions under which they struggle to reach maturity and learn to make positive choices. From this research, Ms. Abuya has developed an adolescents’ capacity building programme that has transformed the ways in which secondary schools in North Rift and Western Kenya practice Life Skills, Guidance and Counselling.Ms. Abuya is a National Trainer, UNCTAD EMPRETEC Training Program & UNDP ETW Program on Gender & Poverty Reduction and in these capacities, she has overseen the development of conflict management programmes in rural and urban communities.

Emily Choge Kerama

baraka_e@yahoo.com
An Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Moi University, Emily Choge describes herself as an African Theologian. A widely published academic, Prof. Choge has served as a visiting professor locally and in the United States of America.
Aside from her teaching and research into systemic theology, the Bible and moral issues, Prof. Choge also prepares pastors and evangelical leaders. Through her publications and community forums, Prof. Choge leads many global conversations on Christianity today and intercultural ethics and African peace initiatives.
She is passionate about social justice issues for those on the margins of the community; refugees, people living with disabilities, children and women. She chairs Uasin Gishu Children’s FORUM, an organization that brings together all the Children organizations that work with vulnerable children in Eldoret, Kenya. Professor Choge represents the vulnerable children in the Country Education Board and is also the chairperson of the Advisory Board of BethanyKids , an NGO that helps children with disabilities to access medical and surgical care.

Joyce Nyairo

jnyairo@gmail.com
Dr. Nyairo is the Managing Director of Santuri Media Limited a growing archive of African (hi)stories. For over 20 years, Joyce has nurtured creativity through teaching, research and program management of media, arts and culture initiatives in East Africa. She was a lead consultant on the Volkswagen Foundation’s research program “Negotiating Culture in the Context of Globalization”; she runs a monthly Arts and Culture column in the Daily Nation and is an expert on UNESCO’s 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of Diversity of Cultural Expressions.As a grant-maker for the Ford Foundation, Dr. Nyairo nurtured many independent regional media and arts organizations, helping to create visibility for local cultural icons, promoting new artistic voices, shaping new sites of public engagement, networks and funding support for the arts and enabling the innovative documentation of forgotten arts and hidden histories.
Her co-edited book Urban Legends, Colonial Myths: East African Popular Culture and Literature was commended for both its team-work and its ground-breaking approach. Her latest book is Kenya@50: Trends, Identities and the Politics of Belonging which has been celebrated in several reviews for its novel reading of history and identity-making.

Naomi Luchera Shitemi (Deceased)

–
At the time of her death, the late Naomi Luchera Shitemi, was a Professor of Kiswahili at Moi University and a Visiting Professor of, and a Coordinator of the BIGSASS program in, the University of Bayreuth in Germany. She got her doctorate in 2007 and had postdoctoral studies under a Commonwealth Fellowship: International Relations in Women Studies; Debates in Feminist Theory. She was a champion of Theological Education by Extension (TEE) under Anglican Church of Kenya and a Trainer of Trainers in Positive Parenting. Her research interest was in communication and discourse analysis. We in ACIP remember her fondly and her spirit lives on in us and in ACIP.